Polish Tribunal Suspension Triggers Rival Leadership Claims

A judge at Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal announced a one-month suspension of its president and deputy on Friday, prompting protests, a police deployment and President Karol Nawrocki’s return from Senegal as rival claims to control the court intensified. Anna Korwin-Piotrowska said she had suspended Tribunal President Bogdan Święczkowski and deputy Bartłomiej Sochański and was taking charge. The Tribunal’s official account rejected the order, saying Święczkowski remained president and disputing Korwin-Piotrowska’s status as a judge. The competing claims leave the order’s legal effect and the court’s leadership contested. Police said officers remained outside the Tribunal building and on its grounds. They detained three people after, according to police, demonstrators crossed a fence and objects were thrown at officers. Protesters had gathered outside the court as the dispute unfolded. Some political accounts alleged police entered the building, but police denied doing so. Nawrocki said he was cutting short his trip to Senegal and returning to Poland. He later went to the Tribunal with Supreme Court First President Zbigniew Kapiński, according to the president’s chief of...